Founded in 1981 by the Effigies, it was not a real business, but a name used by Chicago and Minneapolis punk bands from 1981 to 1990: Big Black, the Effigies,[1] End Result, Naked Raygun,[2] Rifle Sport and Urge Overkill.

Ruthless Records was an independent label run as a cooperative by Jon Babbin (later founder of Criminal IQ Records), The Effigies, Naked Raygun and Steve Albini of Big Black fame.

After the release of The Effigies' Haunted Town EP, frontman John Kezdy was dissatisfied with the way Autumn Records handled their expenses and decided to start the label with Babbin.

Naked Raygun and Big Black came on board shortly after and all three acts worked together to get their initial records released.

The latter half of Ruthless' existence (from about 1985 on) was run almost exclusively by Steve Albini and most of the releases were by bands outside Chicago.